


here’s to us

by pricklyteeth



Series: oc shenanigans au [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Christmas Festivities, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Multi, OT12 Shenanigans, Other, SOCAL AU, Ugly Sweaters, XiuSoo - Freeform, but tbh this fic is pretty much all fluffy feelings and friend love, gratuitous christmas fluff, some dirt comes to the surface, wyw epilogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-07 04:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13426827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pricklyteeth/pseuds/pricklyteeth
Summary: It's the holidays for the gang, and they're finding ways to hang out. Christmas is at Minseok and Kyungsoo's, everyone's invited.





	here’s to us

**Author's Note:**

> follow up to [Whatever You Want](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12370479) (this fic literally won't make sense, please read that first)
> 
> but yay!! this was supposed to be a short epilogue and then it became kind of just another installation but. you know, hey
> 
> i've been dealing w some f*nancial issues and i've been trying to save up for transitioning and i was really considering locking this fic on a gdoc for a small donation (if you are curious at all ab this, please check out my [twitter](twitter.com/xingsoobot)) but i had no real way of contacting people who were subscribed to this fic and being like, hello, if you're still interested at all, I'm doing this thing! i still don't know how to handle writing fic from this point forward. anw i hope you enjoy this despite my complicated feelings about posting it !

 

Today's a double date.

Minseok and Kyungsoo are out for brunch with Baekhyun and Yixing, who are now well over a month deep into the honeymoon phase. Minseok is unsure of whether they will ever get out of it at this point.

He doesn't think he and Kyungsoo ever had one; they're both too focused on their art and their growth as people to really get...lost in each other, but that's actually something he really appreciates about his partner. Prior to Kyungsoo, his experiences with dating were often just him feeling like he was chafing against the other person’s feelings. It made him feel caged and stuck. Different things work for different people, he's learned.

They’re at poke, which is unusually dead today, probably due to holiday madness. The way people let capitalism run their lives is honestly kind of freaky to think about. Or maybe it’s because people are staying in with their families? Who knows. In any case, Jongdae and Luhan come over to sit with them because it’s _that_ dead.

The shop is decked out in holiday decorations, from artificial wreaths of holly to the tinsel hung liberally around the perimeter of the establishment. Luhan and Jongdae even had him and Kyungsoo come over after closing one night to add little santa beards and hats and antlers using washable paint markers over the little fish in the fresco mural that they’d originally done for their dome ceiling.

Minseok hopes more customers will come over the holidays to appreciate their work, because there were definitely times where he and Kyungsoo nearly fell off their ladders trying to get it all done. There are a fuckton of fish in that mural. He looks up at them now, knowing he couldn’t count them if he tried.

Kyungsoo had looked cute that night, he thinks to himself, looking over at his boyfriend’s cheek, where he’d somehow gotten a stripe of white paint then, prompting Minseok to climb down from his ladder, then climb up Kyungsoo’s to wipe his face with a rag. And Then kiss him because he looked confused about what Minseok was doing. The paint is obviously not there anymore, but it’s a good memory. He hopes it'll revisit him some other time.

His eyes linger for a beat too long and Kyungsoo turns, finishing the bite in his mouth. “What?”

Minseok picks up a piece of ahi tuna like he hasn’t just been caught staring at his boyfriend’s face. “Don’t worry about it.”

Kyungsoo quirks a brow at him, turning back to his food. “You _will_ tell me later.”

Minseok finishes the bite of ahi before he’s poking his chopsticks through his seaweed salad. “You’re cute, that’s all.”

At that, the corner of Kyungsoo’s mouth quirks into a pleased little half smile.

Baekhyun breaks out of his weird perpetual flirting with Yixing to comment on this honestly kind of rare spoken display of affection between Minseok and Kyungsoo. “Young love is so refreshing, don’t you think, Xing?”

Yixing at least, has the decency to snort at that. “Ah yes, Minseok and Kyungsoo. The prime example of the romance of the youths,” he says, sarcastic but playful. Even when he’s teasing Baekhyun, he just looks so _smitten_.

Luhan, on the other side of him, picks from Minseok’s bowl. “I see you both are being insufferably cuddly as per usual,” he comments, eyes flicking up at Baekhyun and Yixing.

Maybe this doesn’t really count as a double date since Luhan and Jongdae are here.

“Honestly,” Jongdae says, from Baekhyun and Yixing’s side of the table, on the same bench but sat a bit further away not from his own doing but because Baekhyun has been doing his damndest to attach himself to Yixing’s side. “If we should be talking about anything, we should be talking about how sad it is that I have to be sitting on this side of the table with these two. I’ve never felt like this much of a third wheel in my entire life.”

Minseok tries not to laugh at Jongdae’s expense, but Kyungsoo just snorts at him, scooping some salmon and rice with his chopsticks. “Dae, they’ve _always_ been like this,” Kyungsoo says, taking a bite. “Even before Baek figured it out.”  

Jongdae shrugs a shoulder, popping some he’e into his mouth. “True,” he says, before his face melts into of bliss. “Damn that is some fresh ass octopus.”

There is a moment of nodding and appreciative grunting, because Jongdae and Luhan’s local fisherman connects are fucking _legit_ and you can taste it in their seafood.

Baekhyun leans back, looking contemplative. “So why do you think it took me so long to realize?”

Kyungsoo wipes some sauce from the corner of his mouth. “Well, part of it is because you’re a mess and you’re terrible at admitting things to yourself,”

“And the other part of it is that you two have kind of always been half dating which kept you complacent,” Minseok finishes for him, taking the bite of spicy tuna, rice and nori that Kyungsoo offers him.

Baekhyun frowns. “Then why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Yixing shifts beside him, looking a little vulnerable. “Because everyone respected my decision to stay silent about my feelings.”

Luhan shakes his head. “Even though that meant you were the one that suffered the most.”

Baekhyun frowns, looking at Yixing with concern even though it’s over and done with.

"Seriously,” Jongdae tuts. “The two of you were a Whole mess. Watching you half be together for years _,_ Baekhyun completely oblivious and Yixing like, constantly being asshurt about it, was _painful_. We should get monetary compensation for the emotional baggage we _all_ had to endure.”

The bells on the door jingle then, signalling an incoming customer. It’s a chick with orange (or is it strawberry blonde?) hair, wearing a black and white racerback with matching leggings. She’s also carrying a white fluffy pup. It looks like a Maltese, or maybe a Bichon. She’s one of those ‘Haha, I’m just out for a run right now, but I’m still made-up enough so that I can take selfies while I do it’ types. For some reason, Minseok feels like he recognizes her from somewhere, but he can’t place it. Maybe she had come into the gallery once.

Jongdae hops up to greet the guest, his whiny expression schooling into the default sweet and smiley and probably too charming mode he reserves for work.

They share a quiet laugh at his expense as he gets behind the bar before Luhan leans in, setting his arm on the table and resting his cheek on his closed fist. “Okay, moving on to other messes. When is Junmyeon gonna get over himself and get with Yifan already.”

Minseok hums, eyes cutting over to where Jongdae is attending the guest. He’s not so sure it’s Yifan that Junmyeon should be getting with. He’s about to say something when the bells on the door tinkle from being rustled again. It’s Junmyeon. “Speak of the devil.”

Yixing unwraps himself from around Baekhyun to turn around. “We were just talking about you,” he calls over, voice teasing.

Junmyeon looks surprised for a second before he realizes who’s talking to him, coming over. “Oh? What about me.”

“We were just wondering when you were finally going to get with Yifan, is all,” Baekhyun adds, conspiratorially.

Junmyeon just drops onto the bench at the spot that Jongdae had left by Baekhyun’s side, groaning. “It’s not fucking like that.”

"Isn't it?" Baekhyun asks, prodding.

“No, it isn’t. I promise. Not really. Not anymore.” Junmyeon is doing the thing where he’s shrugging and trying not to look at anyone, especially not Minseok.  
  
Minseok doesn't blame him. If his best friend knew too much he'd feel awkward and vulnerable too. Luckily, Minseok is good at keeping his messes to a minimum, which means there isn't really much of anything for his friends to tease him about. It also doesn't help Junmyeon's case that he gets so blushy and flustered when he gets bugged about his lack of a love life.  
  
Personally, Minseok thinks the pressure for people to be coupled up is unnecessary and tiring. Sometimes it's not what you want or need in your life at the time, maybe even ever. It's not a defining or necessary thing that needs to happen for a person to be happy or whole at all.  
  
In any case, Minseok takes a sip of his apple mint julep and pretends not to notice the way Junmyeon’s eyes flicker over to Luhan, or the way Jongdae's looking over from behind the counter. They're no better than Yixing was about Baekhyun. Neither of them.  
  
Sensing Minseok's quiet frustration as their friends chatter on, Kyungsoo reaches over underneath the table to squeeze at the inside of his thigh as a show of nonverbal support and understanding. Kyungsoo knows too, not even because Minseok told him, but because he's perceptive. He's also very good at acting like he doesn't know a thing. It helps that Kyungsoo is just rarely interested in anyone's drama or pushing anyone to spill their secrets in general.  
  
The conversation eventually dies down, Luhan getting up to go help Jongdae out, since people start slowly trickling in.  
  
"Oh," Baekhyun says, as if something just occurred to him. "I've been meaning to ask. Why did you depict Jongdae and Junmyeon as girls playing jenga and Sehun as a girl doing yoga in your exhibit? Like it was really cool, don't get me wrong, but also like, why?"  
  
"Actually," Minseok starts before stopping himself, remembering now, looking around the shop to find the orange haired girl with the dog. She's not there anymore.  
  
"What is it?" Baekhyun asks.  
  
Minseok just shakes his head, shoulders coming up to shrug. "It's probably nothing, your question just reminded me of something. Thought I saw someone earlier. To answer your question, we'd decided that our theme was going to be a play between tension and release, and I was thinking I wanted to do something queer... but I wasn't exactly sure what yet. I had some sketches and I wasn't happy with them enough to want to sculpt or build them."  
  
He leans back on the bench, looking up at the fresco on the ceiling as he remembers. "I had some really weirdly vivid dreams. Just. Like, I had a dream where Junmyeon and Jongdae were girls, and they were in love.. And Junmyeon had this crush on Jongdae and she didn't know that Jongdae was gay and so she was like, Mad pining."  
  
Junmyeon chokes on his milk tea, looking up when Luhan and Jongdae come back to sit at the table, since the customers have been served.  
  
"So, what are we talkin 'bout," Luhan asks, singsong, taking his place by Minseok side.  
  
Baekhyun grins at him from across the table. "Minseok's dreams. The ones that inspired his work at the current exhibit," he says, brows wiggling.  
  
Minseok laughs in disbelief. "What is that face?"  
  
"I don't know, I thought it was about to get spicy," Baekhyun says defensively. "Just get back to the story. Junmyeon was gay for Jongdae, and she thought Jongdae was straight, and then?"  
  
"Okay, okay. So anyway, in the end it was like Jongdae planned this beach trip _because_ she wanted to come out to Junmyeon and tell her she loved her and actually, the moment that I built was the moment that Jongdae was about to tell her. I don't know how to explain how vividly I experienced that moment in the dream, but I really wanted to recreate that tension. It felt like... such a hallmark of growing up queer and confused, but also...like the moment felt really symbolic of their personal dynamic in my dream? I don't know."  
  
Actual Jongdae is just looking at Minseok absolutely stricken, probably feeling betrayed somehow, but Minseok plays it off. "Yeah, I don't know what all that was about but y'all were cute girls, if I may say," he laughs, taking another sip of his mint julep.  
  
He doesn't miss the way Junmyeon looks thoughtfully to the side, tracing the grain in the table.  
  
Yixing hums, leaning forward with his chin in the palm of his hand. "It's really neat that the moment was so clear that you could actually make it out of clay, though, like. I'm always blown away at how precise you are, but even that... I hardly remember any of my dreams, not even enough to be muse to make a song about anyway, but to create ceramic sculpture out of a moment from a dream? _Damn_ , Minseok. What it'd be to live in your head."  
  
Everyone kind of hums in agreement and Minseok's hands come up to cover his mouth, feeling both flattered and embarrassed.  
  
"Yes, yes, Minseok is a genius, we all know," Baekhyun says, leaning forward like he still has dirt to dig up. "But what about the Sehun one?  
  
Minseok still has the grace to look embarrassed at that. He had hoped Baekhyun would have forgotten and he wouldn't have to explain. "Uh, so like, I was a yoga instructor in that dream?"  
  
Kyungsoo snorts at him then, because they're both homebodies. Minseok doesn't appreciate that. He could totally be a yoga instructor if he so wanted.  
  
He nudges his boyfriend's knee with his own under the table before continuing. "Anyway. Sehun was one of my students and we were stretching together, and-oh. This Sehun was a girl, by the way. And it was just? Interesting because in my dream I was really knowledgeable about the human body and the sort of physical as well as metaphysical properties of certain poses. It was mostly just really pretty?"  
  
Minseok omits the part of his dream where it got weirdly sexual, because honestly...He doesn't see Sehun that way at all.  
  
Kyungsoo shifts beside him, lower lip jutting out in what Kyungsoo probably would argue is Not a pout, but is Most Definitely a pout. "Okay, but where am _I_ in all of these dreams?" he asks, sounding more incredulous than jealous, though Minseok can tell.  
  
He loves when Kyungsoo gets like this. It's almost childish, the way he starts getting a little bratty. It's not something he really does with anyone else, unlike Baekhyun, who gets jealous about Yixing, sure, but is just very generally a brat to everyone.  
  
Minseok reaches up to pat the side of Kyungsoo's face consolingly. "I see you everyday bubu. I don't gotta dream about it."  
  
The table erupts with the sounds of obnoxious cooing (Baekhyun, Jongdae Junmyeon) and various other jeering noises (Luhan). Kyungsoo just looks quietly pleased, if embarrassed. It's very cute, in Minseok's opinion.  
  
Jongdae comes over to their side of the table, laying against Kyungsoo's other side, squeezing him against Minseok even though there is So Much Space. "Buuubuu," he taunts, cackling.  
  
Kyungsoo promptly shoves him on his ass, which starts another round of laughter. Minseok feels no remorse. Jongdae deserved that.  
  
Jongdae gets up, looking put off and whining. "My ass'll be _bruised_ , Kyungsoo. Bruised!"  
  
No one feels any sympathy.  
  
"Your butt is definitely fat enough to cushion a fall from a foot off the ground, Dae. We don't need to hear it." Yixing calls over, picking a leftover piece of shrimp from Baekhyun's bowl.  
  
"Yeah, you would know, Dr. Ass Expert Zhang, M.D." Luhan quips.  
  
"You say that like I feel shame about being an ass man," Yixing says imperiously, sipping his iced açaí berry tea through his curly straw.  
  
"Well, the way you go about it, you _should_ ," Luhan shoots back. "Have you ever had a friend whose cheeks you _didn't_ manhandle?  
  
Yixing looks contemplatively off into space, pulling at his bottom lip. His silence answers for him. He begins to lift a finger, as if he remembering something, but then drops it again. "Define _friend_."  
  
Baekhyun leans into him, snickering. " _Yixing_."  
  
And that starts _another_ round of laughter, Yixing included. Jongdae wipes a tear that leaks out, shaking his head. "Mess!"  
  
No one disagrees. It's not even the funniest thing Yixing's ever said, but for whatever reason it's just so absurd and also _so_ _Yixing_.  
  
Once the laughter dies out, Luhan snaps, knocking his fist on the table, remembering something. "Wait, we're still on for the christmas shindig right? No one is making any non-squad plans?"  
  
Oh, right. Minseok was supposed to bring that up. He's glad Luhan remembered.  
  
Junmyeon pipes up. "Yifan might be, last I heard?"  
  
"OooOoh, Yifan," Baekhyun singsongs.  
  
Junmyeon swats at him. "Stop that."  
  
"Yifan probably will drop by even if he has something, or even cancel whatever else it was to come. You know how he is. Pretends to be flaky and then comes through," Yixing reasons.  
  
Jongdae yawns from the other side of Kyungsoo, trying to be inconspicuous. Minseok sees right through him, though he doubts anyone else does. "If we should be worried about anyone, it should be Baekhyun and Yixing, with how hard it is to drag them out anywhere anymore," he teases, changing the subject easily.  
  
"We'll be there!" Baekhyun says defensively, answering for the both of them. "Why would we miss _Christmas_."  
  
Luhan hums. "Mmm, if I remember _correctly_ , the two of you dipped in the middle of Chuseok, so," he says, gesturing vaguely at the two of them, as if that proved something.  
  
"You act like you didn't Directly contribute to my breakdown, Luhan," Baekhyun snaps.  
  
"Who, me?"  
  
"Why you little-" Baekhyun lunges across the table and nearly sends the leftover food flying.  
  
  
All in all, Minseok thinks it's a pretty nice morning out.  
  
  
  
  
The 'christmas shindig', as Luhan had called it, is at Minseok and Kyungsoo's place—the loft on top of their gallery—as it always is ever since they got it.

They used to celebrate in the gallery space, but through the winter holidays over the years, as it is now, it's on display, so letting a bunch of people (some very gangly) get drunk in there doesn't really make too much sense.

Everyone has to wear an ugly christmas sweater. It’s the rules. If someone isn’t wearing an ugly sweater, then Minseok doesn’t let them in, and they have to go back home to find an ugly christmas sweater or call someone to bring one for them. Luckily, so far, everyone seems to be playing by the rules this year. It’s really not hard, but they’re a messy bunch.

He’s currently acting as bouncer (really, he’s just answering the door) and categorizing everyone’s sweater by ugliness, not really because anyone gets a prize or anything for ugliest sweater, but because Minseok likes categorizing things. Last year’s winner was actually a three-way tie between Junmyeon, Chanyeol and Luhan.

Luhan and Jongdae are already here, laying around on the couch even though they came over early because they were supposed to be grilling up salmon on the balcony outside before the party. They have pretty ugly sweaters. Luhan’s is a pullover, and Jongdae’s is actually just a vest.

Minseok was almost not going to let him in, but it was ugly enough that it passed. It had little 8-bit santa bears and little glittery white pom poms that are supposed to be snow. Luhan’s is a douchey looking christmas tree with Actual red solo cups attached to the front, like ornaments on the tree, but solo cups arranged and ready for beer pong. Unfortunately for Luhan, despite being one of Minseok’s best friends for _years_ , never outgrew the frat boy phase.

He’s going to tell them to get their asses up when the doorbell rings. He just kicks Luhan’s legs off the coffee table instead, going to answer it. Thankfully, behind him, he hears Kyungsoo going to hit the two of them over the head, (maybe with a couch cushion, because he never hears his hand connect, but he hears Jongdae and Luhan whining) telling them to get started already.

How Minseok loves his boyfriend.

It’s Junmyeon and Baekhyun. Interesting, Minseok would have thought that Baekhyun would have come with Yixing; they’ve been inseparable lately.

“Merry Christmas!” they greet, together.

“Where’s-” Minseok starts.

“Yixing’s finishing up a gig with Chanyeol, so I figured I’d be Baek’s date,” Junmyeon answers, already knowing what the question would be. 

Minseok reaches over to squeeze his arm in an act of put on concern. “Poor Jun. Baek’s a lot to handle.”

Baekhyun gasps from around the stack of presents he’s carrying. “I’m a wonderful date, _excuse_ _you_.”

“And I’m Santa Claus,” Minseok replies sarcastically, pulling down the white crochet beard that’s attached to the santa beanie he’s wearing over his face for effect. “Set down your gifts for a sec, I need to appraise your ugly sweaters.”

It takes some shuffling, and Minseok ends up having to take some presents off of them, but he eventually gets to see the sweaters. Baekhyun’s is a sweater ruched from top to bottom, in red and green alternating ruffles, with embroidered ornaments peeking out from underneath the fabric. It’s not the _ugliest_ christmas sweater he’s seen, but it’s up there.

Junmyeon’s wearing a sweater vest, an atrocious electric blue knit with some gnarly looking kids dancing around on the snow, holding hands. Their hair comes Off the sweater, and some of them have ribbons in their hair. There’s a snowman in the middle, probably Frosty, whose hat is satin and sewn  _onto_ the knit. The shoulders are also bunched up and have frills right to the edge of the shoulder. It’s pretty bad. Not the worst he’s ever come up with, but, as for christmas sweaters, it’s pretty ugly.

“Nice sweaters,” Kyungsoo comments, coming up behind Minseok.

“You too,” Baekhyun says, letting out a snort at Kyungsoo’s sweater. It’s a stick figure of Jesus holding a balloon and wearing a long drapey tunic with ‘happy birthday to me’ printed across the chest on a red pullover with green sleeves. Neither of them are particularly religious at all, but it tickled Kyungsoo when he saw it, and he bought it because he thought it was funny.

For whatever reason, Minseok thinks it’s really endearing.

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo responds, cheeks lifting in a smile. “Yours are better.”

“You think so?” Minseok asks, head tilting as he appraises them. “Honestly, I was expecting a little better from you, Jun.”

“Hey,” Junmyeon whines, defensive. “This one’s pretty bad!”

Minseok purses his lips. “Not as bad as last year.” Junmyeon was wearing a knit _tree_ , last year. It was so huge, and it just had cut outs for his arms and face. It could have counted more as a costume than a sweater, really, but it was _iconic_.

“I was kind of hoping I would be able to move my arms this year,” Junmyeon says, nose wrinkling at the memory.

Baekhyun snickers. “ _God,_ that was the best. I still have the pictures.”

They’re going to have to do something about that. Maybe they should start a dropbox for the worst christmas sweaters they get over the years and make a slideshow. “Send them to me.  Anyway, you’re free to come in, you pass, you know where to put the gifts. I’ll take these over in a sec.”

Junmyeon and Baekhyun go over to the christmas tree, which is really just a Saguaro cactus, strung around with fairy lights and tinsel and some ornaments here and there, to set down their gifts.

They didn’t have a real christmas tree the first time. And then, every time after, it never made sense to either of them to drop money on an artificial tree (which, to be honest, is mostly plastic and would be bad for the environment anyway) or to contribute to the killing of real trees (also bad for the environment), so every year they just dress Honey, their biggest house plant, up for the holidays. She doesn’t seem to mind.

Kyungsoo squeezes around Minseok’s arm, taking the presents from him since a car seems to be pulling up into the alley. It’s too bright from the headlights to be able to tell who it is, but it’s definitely one of their gang.

“Let me put this away. Should I start putting on the music, since people are starting to come now?” he asks, voice low and pleasant and comforting.

Minseok nods, just as Luhan calls out from the couch, sounding offended. “Jongdae and I don’t count as people?”

“No,” Kyungsoo responds, already crossing the loft to set the gifts down by Honey. “Weren’t you going to start the salmon?”

Minseok snorts, letting the door close so he can go pick up his peppermint hot cocoa spiked with kahlua. It’s never too early to start drinking at holiday parties, in Minseok’s opinion. The sound of chatter, as well as the soft (as soft as it can be) christmas trap music filters in through the sound system, and it’s really starting to feel like a holiday party.

Soon enough, the doorbell rings again, and its Yifan, who probably has the least appalling sweater of them all so far, a green pullover that’s strung around with tinsel sewn around the whole thing. He’s carrying a small mountain of gift bags in his hands rather than consolidating them into one or two larger bags. Minseok takes some of them off of him, stepping back to appraise his outfit.

“I don’t know if your sweater is ugly enough, Yifan.”

The man visibly tenses. Minseok shouldn’t enjoy lording this kind of power over people two times his size, but he does.

“How is it less ugly than what you’ve got on?”

Minseok looks down at his ensemble. “I’ve got a gaudy sweater with an awful combination of chartreuse, magenta, orange, brown and teal stripes, which, from a color theory standpoint is fucking abominable, there are freaky embroidery snowmen dancing across my torso, and on top of _that_ I have a vest with snow pom poms and _sequin_ gingerbread men holding hands. You really think your all green tinsel getup holds a light to _this?”_

“I just want to come inside, ‘Seok.” Yifan says, kind of pitifully, to be honest. “It’s cold.”

Minseok screws his mouth to the side, thinking of how to fix this. “Something is just, I don’t know, missing.” He squints, scanning Yifan up and down before locking on his hair. It’s tied back in a neat little pony tail. “Aha!”

“What?” Yifan asks, not sure if he should be afraid or not.

Minseok just wordlessly gestures for him to bend down, taking the tiny reindeer horn clips he has clipped to his santa beanie to put in Yifan’s hair, then taking the red tinted lip balm he has in his pocket, applying some to Yifan’s nose when he looks up, confused.

Chanyeol and Yixing come up then, both carrying an absurd amount of gifts between the two of them, varying in size and shape.

“Poor Yifan,” Chanyeol comments, the bells on the beanie with reindeer ears coming out of it jingling as he shakes his head.

Yixing just comfortingly smacks Yifan on the ass. “Why is it always you? You gotta learn, gē.”

“ _I_ thought this one was pretty bad,” Yifan says, pout looking strange on his face. “Am I good?”

Chanyeol hums, commenting as if Yifan isn’t right there. “It’s probably because Yifan’s masochistic tendencies are rewarded by getting scolded by Minseok every year.”

“Hey!”

Minseok giggles, amused. “Yeah, you can come in. Drop your shit off underneath Honey. I have fuzzy socks if you don’t want to be barefoot too.”

Yifan just goes, sulking a little, and Minseok can’t pretend he doesn’t feel some pride over it.

“Okay,” Minseok directs to Chanyeol and Yixing. “Both of you set your gift towers down for a second. It’s a fucking miracle you didn’t drop something coming up here.”

Their doorway opens to a set of stairs that comes up from the ground floor, from the alley up to the loft, which is actually really inconvenient for when you want to bring up giant canvas boards or a shipment of 300 pounds of clay, for example. It's the reason Minseok and Kyungsoo have moved their studios mostly to the backroom of the gallery.

Chanyeol wobbles a little when he’s setting his gifts down. “Yeah, no kidding, I almost died. Thank fuck we live in Socal, where we don’t have like ice and snow everywhere. Imagine if there was ice on these steps. Fuck.”

“Yeah,” Yixing agrees. “You nearly ate shit just now. We should’ve asked for someone to come help.”

“Oh right, speaking of eating shit, we gotta figure out if we want to do Big Bear or Mammoth.”

“Actually, Yixing and I were thinking maybe we should try Squaw Valley? We haven’t hit Tahoe yet,” Chanyeol says, straightening after making sure the gifts won’t topple over.

“Oh, my god,” Minseok says, getting the first sight of Chanyeol’s sweater. It’s ugly, for sure, but not for the reasons most ugly sweaters are ugly. It’s got tacky print down the green arms and the red torso of the sweater has in huge blocky text ‘KISS UNDER THE MISTLETOE’, with an arrow pointing down to Chanyeol’s crotch.

“Pretty good, isn’t it?” Chanyeol says, grin smug.

Minseok is at a loss for words. “...Good is not the word that I would personally use.”

Yixing snickers. “Told you it was extra, ‘Yeol.”

“Extra is good! Extra is what makes an ugly sweater exceptionally ugly!” Chanyeol says, insistent.

“Yeah, well, you have Good Extra,” Yixing says, gesturing to his own sweater, a red sweater with a muscular, fully ripped santa screen printed onto it with his sleeve pulled back, revealing a tattoo reading ‘north swole’ in all caps. “And then you have _that_ ,” he finishes, pointing at Chanyeol’s sweater.

Minseok laughs. “Just get in here, you nerds.”

Tao, Sehun and Jongin show up soon enough, late as usual, showing up once it’s certain that there’s food cooked and out.

Their sweaters really make up for it though; they have matching sweaters: Sehun in green, Tao in red, and Jongin in white. They’re pretty plain sweaters, with one exception. There’s a cutout over the chest, for one pec to poke through. There’s little reindeer horns and bells hot glued over the cutout on the sweater itself and they had all attached googly eyes to their bare chest and a pom pom to their exposed nipple to be the nose of their respective reindeers (Sehun’s seems to be rudolf). It’s probably the most ingenious ugly christmas sweater idea Minseok’s ever laid eyes on.

“YOU REALLY DID THE TIDDY REINDEERS!” Baekhyun screeches from the couch, unwrapping himself from around Yixing, who Minseok swears was just in the kitchen earlier.

“Hell fuckin’ yeah we did,” Tao answers. “Do I ever _not_ come through with my ideas?”

“Well,” Sehun starts, mischief playing in his eyes.

“Shut up, boyfriend,” Tao snaps.

“I wasn’t even saying anything,” Jongin says, from Tao’s other side, trying to hide his smile behind obliviousness.

Minseok shakes his head. It’s only recently that the three of them had figured out their relationship stuff, even when they’d been sleeping together casually before. Aro stuff is complicated; Minseok’s definitely been there.

He goes to find the ponytail holder with a santa hat attached to it, switching out his santa beanie and tying back his hair since he’d given away his reindeer clips to Yifan. It'd be too hot to keep his beanie on all night, and he doesn't want to be sporting the crochet beard _all_ night. He adjusts the little hat on the ponytail holder, watching on as everyone directs Sehun, Tao and Jongin to pose with their matching reindeer boob sweaters while everyone snaps pictures, making sure to get a few himself.

It’s nice like this, he thinks, going over to the makeshift bar he’s set up in the corner to start making drinks. The loft feels extra cozy from all the body heat and chatter. It’s still big enough that they’re not cramped, but it doesn’t feel quiet like it usually does. He'd say he likes both; they're different atmospheres, and he values them both.

There’s something really festive about a full house during the holidays, though. Normally, their loft is pretty bare; minimalist because neither he nor Kyungsoo enjoy the fuss of having too many things being around, and the color palette of the place monochrome. Minseok’s wardrobe, organized by color, is usually the only thing besides their plants and food that isn’t black, white or grey.

Now, there’s fairy lights everywhere, casting the loft in a soft glow, and fuzzy festive baubles and ornaments of various colors strung about. It’s only been a couple hours since he and Kyungsoo finished decorating, but it only started really feeling like a completely transformed space _now_ , now that people are over. Not that he didn’t enjoy having the loft to just Kyungsoo and himself.

A memory strikes him then, from earlier, when Kyungsoo had called him over with a question, wondering where he should hang something—the thing ending up being mistletoe. His cheeks burn a little at the memory, even as he fights the urge to smile. Kyungsoo had sounded completely serious about wanting Minseok’s opinion about what he should do with this decoration, and once Minseok had come over, he’d fallen for his trap. The sneaky bastard.

His eyes flick over to where the mistletoe was hung, by the balcony (really, it’s just a fire escape) to find that it’s not there anymore.

That’s strange, he could have sworn…

“Your ass is _mine_ , Zitao!” Luhan shrieks, chasing after Tao, who has apparently stolen his controller and is currently making him lose mario kart.

“You have to kiss me first, it’s the rules!” Tao singsongs, dangling the controller before jumping over Chanyeol and Baekhyun on the couch.

“Fine, just give it back,” Luhan whines.

Jongin and Sehun are giggling like mad, following them around the loft, Luhan reluctantly kissing Tao on the mouth while Sehun dangles the mistletoe over their heads and Jongin takes a picture with a polaroid camera.

So that’s where it went.

This goes on for sometime. Sehun corners Junmyeon for a kiss, then they get Yifan and Baekhyun to kiss when they’re setting up the table. Tao and Sehun sit on Jongin when he’s conveniently about to go for another drink, where he was sitting by Yixing on the floor. Baekhyun, already tipsy from all the holiday mixes he demands Minseok make for him, eggs Yixing and Jongin on.

They get Jongdae and Chanyeol to kiss by threatening to turn off the Wii, since they haven’t left it since they sat down, only stopping to shove forkfuls of food into their mouths. Junmyeon gets in on the photography with his dslr, and Kyungsoo silently records everything.

Tao actually tag teams Kyungsoo with Yixing _and_ Sehun, and somehow they find lipstick somewhere so they actually end up covering him in all over his face with lipstick kisses, just as he’s about to serve up the spaghetti baby clam he’s been preparing. Minseok takes a couple pictures as a keepsake. It’s a good look.

He’s actually sitting against the wall, by the music, taking bites of the Thai food that Chanyeol and Yixing had brought with them when the mistletoe madness make its way over to him. This time, it’s Tao holding the mistletoe and Sehun and Jongin coming in to kiss his sauce stained lips, all of them giggling like manic seven year olds.

It surprises him that they kept it going for so long, before someone (Kyungsoo, he’s guessing) turns the music up, and then they drop the mistletoe to dance with Chanyeol and Jongdae, who are mostly just dabbing aggressively. Tao does a back aerial flip over and nearly takes Chanyeol out with it. Minseok did not know that that was possible to do in the loft, but Tao frequently defies rules of gravity, gender and society so he really should not be surprised.

Jongin ropes Yixing in to trap-step with them, and because they’re nerds that went to performance art school together, they start dance battling to the christmas trap, which would be ridiculous all on its own, but the three of them with their reindeer nips and Yixing with his swole santa sweater make the most ridiculous holiday themed crew. Minseok makes sure to record a couple videos for his instagram story.

Eventually they tire, and everyone’s attention moves to other things. Junmyeon is in the kitchen, drinking kombucha Minseok bought for him because he doesn’t drink anymore, quietly talking to Yifan. Jongdae’s pretending not to notice, playing darts with Tao, Sehun, Chanyeol and Luhan. Luhan and Chanyeol are neck and neck, by the sound of Tao whining about it. Jongin’s curled up across Baekhyun’s and Yixing’s laps, being babied by them both from where they are on the couch.

It’s cute, but also funny to watch because Jongin is bigger than both of them (not that height ever really means anything about anything, but the visual of Jongin being cradled like he is a very long baby is amusing). Baekhyun is also drunk burbling to Jongin about how cute his tiddy reindeer is.

Minseok’s trying to decide if he wants to join Junmyeon and Yifan in the kitchen or everyone playing darts when he sees some movement past the screen door. Kyungsoo’s out on the fire escape, probably having a smoke. He was wondering where he went.

Sometimes when Kyungsoo disappears, it means he doesn’t want to be found, which Minseok respects. He gets like that too. But he figures it’s probably cold out there, so he ladles out two mugs full of piping hot spiced hard cider to bring out with him.

“Hey hon,” Minseok greets softly, sliding the screen door behind him shut with his ankle because his hands are occupied. It’s so much quieter out here. You can still hear the music, but it's muffled. “Whatcha been up to?”

Kyungsoo looks like he has something to say, but he just gestures for Minseok to come forward with a finger, leaning forward when Minseok comes into his space, pressing his mouth to his and blowing him a shotgun kiss.

Minseok just takes in the smoke, blowing it against Kyungsoo’s mouth before he’s facing away to blow out the rest. It would be annoying if it wasn’t so hot. He used to think shotgun kisses were so tacky.

Kyungsoo’s mouth is upturned at the corners, smug. This brat. “Been mostly watching the party from out here,” he answers, voice rumbly and deep and velvet. “You brought me something?”

“Mm,” Minseok hums, lifting up a mug. “Hot spiced hard cider. Thought baby would be cold out here,” he says, teasing.

Kyungsoo just snorts, stubbing out his cig before dropping it into the ashtray Minseok made for him years ago. Sometimes Minseok sees it and offers to make a new one, but Kyungsoo insists it’s perfect. “Hand it over, you great big softie. Keep this up, and we’ll have people thinking you’re in love with me.”

Minseok gives him his mug, yet another piece thrown by him (though to be honest there isn’t a piece of ceramic or stoneware they own that isn’t fabricated by him). “Couldn’t have that,” he says, smile playing over his mouth. “I’ll try to tone it down.”

Kyungsoo’s doing the thing where he’s biting the inside of his lips with his teeth because the flirting is making him feel flustered but pleased. His lips puff out as he blows across the top of the mug, and despite the low visibility in the dark, with just the light from inside filtering through and the moon lighting the rest of their surroundings, Minseok knows Kyungsoo’s lips must be _red_.

“Thank you for the cider, babe,” Kyungsoo decides to say after a beat of this, sincere but sheepish.

“It’s nothing,” Minseok responds, bumping him gently with the inside of his ankle. “Wanted to keep you warm, keep you company.” Minseok moves to copy Kyungsoo’s position, settled back against the railing of the fire escape, laying his head against his shoulder. Minseok doesn’t have to look up to know Kyungsoo’s smiling.

They stay like that for a while, in comfortable silence, watching their friends make fools of themselves or show affection to one another, sometimes both at the same time.

Kyungsoo rubs his cheek into the crown of Minseok’s head a little, murmuring something about how the party’s going nice, but they both know he’s talking about how content he feels.

Minseok thinks about friendship and surreal happiness and love, and he doesn’t think it has anything to do with the alcohol in the cider. It’s a different kind of fuzz.

While there’s still cider left in their mugs, he lifts his, proposing a toast. “Here’s to.. Us?”

Their mugs clink.

“Us.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> if you want to come yell at me, say hi, show support or are just curious, links to cc and twt, etc are on my [carrd](https://pricklyteeth.carrd.co/)! im friendly i promise
> 
> if you don't have twitter and don't want to leave a message on curious cat, feel free to let me know what you liked, what made you soft, what made you laugh in the comments (dex especially likes when you quote certain parts or just yell about a certain interaction. we love a good keysmash)


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